Doctor Who
 The longest running science fiction series in TV history
actually began life as a concept for a children's educational
program. The time travel of the Doctor was meant to be a way of
explaining past ages and the physical sciences.
The very first
episode aired on 23 November 1963 - the day after John
F Kennedy was assassinated.
The adventure began at an ordinary school where the Doctor's
granddaughter Susan was a pupil.
Her science teacher Ian
Chesterton and history teacher Barbara Wright were intrigued by
Susan's vast knowledge, and their curiosity led them to the Doctor
and his home - what seemed to be a police box. . .
Of course it turned out to be a time machine called the Tardis
(which stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space) which was
also much, much bigger on the inside than the outside.
In the beginning The Doctor (played by William Hartnell) was to all intents and
purposes the villain: he kidnaps two teachers in his time machine,
carts them back to the Stone Age, and maintains a position of
intractable mystery.
Hartnell played The Doctor until 1966, when he left partly
because he was suffering from arterio sclerosis and was becoming
unsafe on the set.
 But the character's ability to transmute into another
human form has enabled a succession of actors to play the Time
Lord; Patrick Troughton (1966 - 1969), Jon Pertwee (1969 - 1974),
Tom Baker (1974 - 1981), Peter Davison (1982 - 1984), Colin Baker
(1984 - 1986), Sylvester McCoy (1987 - 1992), Paul McGann (1996),
Christopher Eccleston (2005), David Tennant (2005 - 1010) and Matt
Smith (2010 to the present).
Peter Cushing also played The Doctor in the movies Doctor
Who and the Daleks (1965) and Daleks
- Invasion Earth (1966).
Tom Baker was the most alien Doctor of the lot - capable of
stunning callousness and levity as well as cosmic gallantry.
Baker
had been working part time on a building site when he was chosen
for the part, and later remarked that his workmates couldn't
believe 'their cement mixer becoming Doctor Who'.
Under
a young producer called Philip Hinchcliffe, Baker appeared in
stories so sinister, gothic and unsuitable for children that Mary
Whitehouse agitated - successfully - for Hinchcliffe to be fired.
They were shamelessly derivative stories, but universally
brilliant: In Pyramids Of Mars, Egyptian mummies turn out
to be emissaries of Satan himself; there's a spectacular
Frankenstein rip-off with The Brain Of Morbius (see mad
scientist Philip Madoc juggle a luminous green brain); and the
Doctor was effectively Sherlock Holmes in The Talons Of Weng-Chiang
- let down only by a giant rat made of carpet!
 Also worth re-seeing is the magnificent Genesis Of The
Daleks, in which the Doctor meets Hitler in the shape of the
tin Nazis' creator, Davros.
Peter Davison had the unenviable task of following Baker, but
his Doctor seems to improve with the passing of years and a second
(or third) viewing.
His rather moving swansong was The Caves Of
Androzani.
Sylvester McCoy's stint as the Doctor had its moments - notably
The Curse of Fenric, which featured vampires and Nicholas
Parsons as a troubled vicar.
And over the years, the Doctor has faced a grisly assortment of
adversaries including Cybermen, Ice Warriors, Sensorites, Voords,
Krotons, Autons, Zygons, Sea Devils, Urbankans, Draconians,
Silurians, Sontarans, Mara, Yeti, Terileptils, Mummies, and
everyone's favourite cruet set, the Daleks.
The Daleks are probably the scariest memory of my childhood
with their menacing cries of "exterminate!
ex-ter-min-ate!" much imitated by me and my friends with
saucepans or laundry baskets on our heads!
There were complaints about the Cybermen being too frightening,
and the use of vampire bats in a 1980 episode prompted an outcry
from the RSPCA and led to questions being asked in Parliament.
The Doctor also had a succession of female assistants, mostly
stereotyped as helpless women (such as Jo Grant) who added a bit
of sexiness to the show.
Most of the doctor's male acquaintances were also stereotypes,
most notably Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart who had this immortal
line while addressing a soldier in The Daemons; - "Jenkins,
chap with the wings there, five rounds rapid!".
 The show was shot on video and produced on a shoe-string budget
and invariably featured scenery which shook visibly when a door
was slammed or someone fell backwards into a wall!
The special
effects cost just as little - The flashing lights on the Daleks
came from the indicators of a Morris car!
These most terrifying adversaries were propelled by stuntmen
who sat inside on a stool and pushed the Dalek around on castors.
The low budget also unfortunately meant some of the monsters were
unintentionally amusing. While The Cybermen were mildly
terrifying, the Sea Devils and others of their ilk, were downright
laughable (even as a small child).
Jon Pertwee (who played the Doctor between 1969 and 1974) did
not share my deep seated fear of the exterminating salt and pepper
shakers .
During an interview he said; "You only had to go
down two flights of stairs and you had (the Daleks) screwed."
Maybe so, but how many TV baddies can claim a place in the Oxford
English Dictionary? "Dalek" makes the cut!
Falling viewing numbers, a decline in the public perception of
the show and a less prominent transmission slot saw production
suspended in 1989. Doctor Who remained dormant until 2003.
In September of that year BBC Television announced the in-house
production of a new series after several years of attempts by BBC
Worldwide to find backing for a feature film version.
Over the years, Doctor Who has built up a fanatical
following among children and adults alike. There are even Doctor
Who conventions, and no other TV show has encouraged such
'anorak' behaviour, with the possible exception of Star
Trek.
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